Media Matters reports:
Blagojevich’s team followed in the footsteps of other would-be pardon-seekers by pursuing a Fox-centric PR strategy. His wife, Patti Blagojevich, made the rounds on Fox beginning in April 2018, appearing at least seven times on the network’s programming to date. She received a sympathetic platform from Fox hosts including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Martha MacCallum, and Jeanine Pirro.
These segments were not subtle — Carlson asked her directly, “If you could speak to the president, what would you say?” And as she responded, the caption “Will Trump intervene in Blagojevich case?” flashed across the screen. As that strategy played out, Trump hinted to White House correspondents that he was considering commuting Blagojevich’s sentence, saying in May 2018 he was sent to prison merely “for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say.”
“I watched his wife on television” Trump says of Blagojevich, in a nod to the successful campaign to obtain executive clemency via Fox appearances (she made at least 7 on the network since April 2018). https://t.co/9PqoPFINKy pic.twitter.com/Qw5AtP3SAj
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) February 18, 2020
Nothing says “I hate political corruption” quite like commuting the sentence of a corrupt Governor of Illinois who went to prison for withholding money from a children’s hospital until they paid him a $50,000 bribe.
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) February 18, 2020
Trump’s Rod Blagojevich commutation is another win for the Fox News Cabinethttps://t.co/wUC5KWQAMO
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) February 18, 2020